


Fates Undecided

by Kunabee



Series: Fates Undecided [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: "godchild" au, Alternate Universe - Horrorfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst, Fluff, Let's call it that, Multi, Other, Slow Burn, also known as kunabee can't make up their damned mind, everything is messy, fuck you i like both, godchild au, i read too many fics, it's probably gonna be slow burn let's be honest, the first chapter is mostly exposition ngl, this is its own au, where all the kids become gods somehow because death and time are funky bitches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2020-12-16 05:09:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21030758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kunabee/pseuds/Kunabee
Summary: To most of the world, magic was a thing of legend. It was rampant in stories but didn't exist in reality. Hidden in the world, however, were monsters and mages, all safely shrouded in secrecy to keep "normalcy" preserved. Three years ago, the secret came out.Three years ago, Mount Ebott became a swirling vortex of energy that prevents most technology and magic from working. It opened up and monsters came onto the surface, which revealed those never sealed beneath the mountain and the humans with magical ability.Technically, Mount Ebott is super dangerous. You still jog there two times a week.





	1. Homecalling

**Author's Note:**

> tags will be added as necessary.
> 
> why yes, i do plan smut to happen. it's gonna take forever though so enjoy.
> 
> also read [Make the World Afraid!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15134435/chapters/35094023) and [The Burning Mountain](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19265026/chapters/45815752), the two fics responsible for why this fic has mages and Surface monsters.
> 
> other inspirations: [popatochisp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/popatochisp/pseuds/popatochisp)'s endless fluff and [Bones, Picked Clean](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11692404/chapters/26323746) for treating the HT boys the way they deserve to be treated in a skeleharem setting... aka with respect and care.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's going on in Mount Ebott?
> 
> Actually, scratch that. The much more important question is why magic in Ebott City is going haywire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoy chapter one's rewrite. maybe i'll make it to chapter two this time.
> 
> shara is best OC 10 out of 10

The drive to the mountain was as familiar as breathing, at this point. Every time you drove up you couldn't help but think of your father. It had been just a little less than two years since he had died, and the pain was bearable by now. You no longer had to pull over as you broke down into sobs, like you did for the first six months you kept coming to the mountain after his death.

When you were seven years old, your father had started taking you to Mount Ebott. You'd make the drive from Ebott City listening to a cassette tape he'd made himself of your favorite songs, and the two of you would sing along to Queen and to Disney and whatever artist or music took your fancy. Over the years, the cassette had changed - when you saw a performance of _Wicked_ played in your home town, for example, the songs from that musical had been added on. When you were sixteen, the cassette tape had finally been upgraded to a CD when your father finally bought a car with a CD player.

You continued the tradition, now, with a Spotify playlist that had more of the songs you knew as his favorites than yours, singing quietly along to all the songs you knew by heart. You looked towards your destination, looming over you and growing ever and ever closer.

Mount Ebott...

The legends surrounding it were endless. People went there if they wanted to disappear. There were, of course, those who went there to hike or camp or do all kinds of things, but there was a side of the mountain that people didn't return from.

Then, one day, humans and monsters had emerged from the mountain. It became a vortex of power and chaos, causing technology to short out and magic to be sucked in. Dangerous by every definition of the word, it quickly got closed off.

Three years into it, you were still going to the mountain. Your father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer just before the monsters emerged, and he had gone down quickly. You still went to the mountain like it was an addiction, especially after he died. Sneaking through the barriers put up was effortless these days.

Other people snuck to the mountain, too; sometimes, you could see the results of such things, initials carved into trees and hastily-cleaned up camp sights. You kept your visits to just an hour or two, and made sure your best friends knew before you entered the no-signal zone and called them as soon as you left.

Your best friends: two incredible people who you were so grateful to have in your life. You'd been friends with Kavik since you were both six. You had been shy, trembling, _just_ adopted by your father and he had come up to you with gusto and introduced himself. At the time, he hid the fact he wasn't human, complained about people's blatant mispronunciations of his name, and told you that he'd take care of you. It was a friendship that had lasted through twists and turns, including when he finally brought you into his trust: he was a sylph.

You immediately told your father.

Most people would assume this is some kind of betrayal, but your father was a mage who had never said a word about any sort of mythical beings and you had so many questions. Turns out, the existence of sylphs had been a surprise to him too.

Childhood friendship was typically followed by at least an attempt at dating in high school, and as uninterested as you and Kavik were in each other as a romantic interest, the power of cliches compelled you. After two weeks before you decided you were better as friends, please stop saying the two of you would make a cute couple, you tried it and you liked being friends better, Kavik got a love note. That was how you met Jenna, who had had a long-term crush on Kavik and finally confessed.

Dating each other didn't really work for any of you, but the three of you did become close friends. Jenna turned out to be a mage just like your father, and you decided you'd be the "normal person" in the group.

...But that's all besides the point.

After hanging up with Jenna, you entered the zone where technology stopped working. Even your radio started to go on the fritz a bit. So you turned it off and drove in silence, up a dirt road and to a cleared area right next to a fence.

'NO ENTRY', a sign declared, 'RESTRICTED ACCESS'.

You grabbed your backpack and hopped out of your car, locking it up before simply climbing up the fence and jumping down the other side. Then, you started to walk. There was a little pond near here that you were planning to have a picnic at, watch the sun begin to set before hiking back to your car and then watching the rest of the sunset in an area where you were confident you wouldn't get lost. You grabbed the necklace around your neck - a gift from your father.

_"You're part of my family now," he said as he put it around your neck, "This means that no matter what happens, I will love you and take care of you."_

Back when he first adopted you, you had lashed out so frequently, testing the boundaries and feeling unworthy of all his care. But loving support - between your father and Kavik and therapy - had managed to bring you in line, and you turned out to be a pretty well-behaved kid with some anxiety and self-esteem issues. And even though he wasn't your _biological_ father, you still inherited his passion for justice and capability to stand up for what was right. All in all... you felt pretty happy with how your life turned out.

Your father had been a social worker, working with dozens of kids and their families to help parents work through drug addiction and children to escape abuse. His favorite, he always told you, was reuniting families because sometimes people just needed a kick in the pants ("_ass_", you would always correct him once you became a teenager) to shape up and be the best parents they could be. But sometimes that just wasn't an option.

It wasn't for you.

But your father had rescued you when you were four years old, so you barely remembered it. He took two weeks debating, decided to foster you himself, and eventually adopted you when the two of you were ready for it. He was your father all the way, even if you had faint memories of other people and the lingering aftereffects of a rough start to life.

He had also been a mage, as you discovered a little later on. After you had been adopted but before you turned seven, he revealed that to you and taught you how to protect yourself from magic.

So lost in your memories, as you often were here, you didn't notice that there was someone trailing your steps until it was too late. You stiffened, looking around with your eyes slightly narrowed. "Who's there?" you called out.

"you uh... do know this place is sealed off, right?" The skeleton before you didn't startle you as much as he probably should have. You knew he was a monster, immediately, and he didn't seem threatening. He was slouching, wearing pink fuzzy slippers and his hands in the pocket of his blue hoodie. His bright white eye lights focused on you, but his smile was casual instead of tense.

You shrugged. "Hard to miss the big-ass fence, yes," you said, "You're here, too, though, so I figure it can't be that much of a big deal. Not like I plan to camp here or something stupid."

He chuckled. "guess you have a point there," he drawled, joining you in your walk but falling behind you a little bit. The skin on the back of your neck prickled, hair rising. He had intentionally positioned himself around your back and boy, did it make you nervous. You tried not to show your nerves.

"So, what brings you to lovely Mount Ebott?"

"business," the skeleton said, perfectly vague. Okay, cool. Business. "how about you?"

"The same," you said, shrugging, "Mind _not_ hanging around my backside?"

"you're walkin' too fast," he replied drolly. You slowed down, and sure enough, he caught up and walked beside you. Huh.

"You feel like sharing a name? Or something I can call you?" you asked.

"sans. sans the skeleton." He paused, turning to you and offering you his hand. You stopped as well, taking his hand.

_Pfffffbbbbbbbbbbt._

"Was... was that a whoopie cushion?" you asked in bewilderment.

Sans winked. "the ole whoopie cushion in the hand trick, yup."

Thus confirmed, you bent over and absolutely _howled_ with laughter. "Hahahaha! I cannot believe... what a - hahahaha!" Once you go control of yourself and your breathing, you grinned at him and offered your own name.

"well, glad to know trespassers have a good sense of humor," he said. He shrugged. "although i really _do_ have business here." He reached into his pocket, frowned, reached into his other one... opened his jacket for some _ketchup packets_, of all things, to come tumbling out. "and... i don't have my id on me."

You couldn't help but snort out a laugh again. "Shit. I believe you, though, you can't fake that kind of 'oh I forgot a thing'. Am I gonna get in trouble?" You grimaced. "Cuz, um. I'm coming back to Mount Ebott. I've been coming here since I was a kid."

Sans shrugged. "too lazy to follow through," he said, "and you have the kind of enjoyment of bad jokes that means you _have_ to be a good person. just try to avoid seeing the building, and if you see it, try to avoid coming to it."

"Any idea where this building _is_ so I can avoid it, or is that the best I can get?" you asked with a smile.

"the best you can get," he confirmed, like you already had guessed he would. "anyway, stay safe. the mountain's dangerous these days."

"Always do," you said. He turned a different direction, ambling along as slowly as he possibly could, it looked like. You smiled, unable to keep from laughing a little at least a little bit. The meeting with the lazy and messy skeleton had put you into a good mood. Eventually, you looped back around to your car.

When you were back in the zone where technology worked, you let Bluetooth take over so you could call Kavik.

"_Ah, back from Death Mountain, I see?_" he teased, "_You still alive, or is this your ghost?_"

You snorted. "Still alive," you confirmed, "But I met someone who wasn't. Well, kind of. A monster, a skeleton monster. Apparently there's something wacky going on in the mountains."

"_Really? That's interesting_."

"Right? Risky business, too. Place is unstable," you agreed.

"_You say this, and yet you still hike there,_" Kavik pointed out.

"Got me. Anyway..." You told Kavik about your meeting with Sans the skeleton. He laughed about the ketchup packets and called you an 'overly trusting dork'. "Anyway, I gotta call Jenna. Talk more in person!"

"_Yeah, you take care,_" Kavik agreed.

Your conversation with Jenna went much the same way, and you got back home with little fanfare. You did some cleaning up at your apartment and then flopped on the couch to watch some TV. For some godforsaken reason it was on the news instead of your typical fare of cartoons or HGTV or cooking shows (you had many sins, shut up, it didn't matter), but you sat upright when you realized what was on.

"It just, it just blew up," your neighbor Shara said, half-hysterical. The delicate bunny monster was _trembling_, her long, lanky limbs and hunched posture giving her an intimidating edge that didn't match at all with her sweet personality. "I was just cooking, an-and it just _blew up_!"

The news said it was live, so whatever had blown up could suck it. You turned the TV off and slipped on flip-flops as you headed out your door and to the bakery where she worked. It was a human bakery, one of the first to accept first monster customers and then monster employees, so you probably spent more than a little on its tea and scones when you were sick of spider donuts and nonalcoholic monster drinks (the alcoholic ones were a little too much for you).

Sure enough: there she was, standing near the crime scene and wringing her hands. _Crime scene_. Where they going to be INVESTIGATING Shara, what the hell?! You hopped out of your car, barely remembering to turn it off and grab your bag.

"Shara, Shara, are you okay?" you called after her, concern in your eyes. Shara sniffled, turning to you and waving her hand in a small wave. She called your name back to you. "What happened?!" She was about half a foot taller than you, but you put your hands on her shoulders anyway and then pulled her into a hug. She melted into it.

"The kitchen blew up," she said, "There's _magic_ involved. It could've been a time-planted bomb or something gone haywire, or..." Sure enough: there was a gaping hole in the building. "N-nobody got hurt. I put up a protective bubble."

"Oh, Shara, that's really good," you told her reassuringly, "You've gotten so much of your magic back from what you've told me! Are you needed here?"

"N-not right now," she said, "they, um, they have my number."

"I'm giving you a ride home then," you said firmly, "I know you like walking, but you need a ride home. And I have some ice cream in the freezer."

She smiled, all watery-eyed. "Thank you," she said in a soft voice. You took her home, walking to your apartment once more. The two of you spet the evening watching cartoons and eating food - not just ice cream, but ice cream before dinner - before you made sure Shara will be alright in her apartment by herself. She assured you she'll be fine, and anyway your apartment was right next door, so...

The week passed peacefully. Shara visited with you every day, leaning on you because you offered her should. Other monsters from her timeline - 'horrorfell', if you remember correctly - stop by with food and blankets and supplies. They were all grouchy, but they came together as a community to support each other. Humans - and even other monsters - were suspicious, but they cared about each other at least. One day, as you were leaving your house for work, you spotted two skeleton monsters at the door.

The lazy, slouching one was almost identical to the monster you met in the woods. He was much larger than that monster, of course, which was to be expected with a horror timeline. He also had a massive gaping hole in his head, and something was wrong with his jaw. He would occasionally flick his hands up in sign language, making some comment or another.

The other skeleton was tall with a regal bearing. He had scars, too, and was missing a leg. The prosthetic was clearly magical in nature, with flames painted on it.

"...We're Looking Into It," the tall skeleton was saying, "There Are Still Four Alphys...es. And My Counterparts, And My Brother's Counterparts. Ebott Is Not Entirely Untameable, We'll Figure Out This Problem With Magic Soon Enough - EXCUSE ME, CAN I HELP YOU?"

You jumped, startled, and flinched. "Sorry!" you squeaked, "I just - your prosethetic is _so_ cool. Like totally badass. I didn't mean to stare!"

The shorter skeleton stared at you with his positively _ominous_ red eyelight, signing something that you weren't fluent enough to understand (was that 'boss'? and 'fuck' and oh, that was almost definitely a name-sign!), and made a breathless, huffy noise that you took a moment to figure out was his hoarse laughter.

"HMM." The taller one stared at you, unimpressed. "WELL, HUMAN, IT SEEMS YOU HAVE GOOD TASTE." He turned back to Shara. "DOES THIS HUMAN BOTHER YOU?" he asked her.

You let out an indignant squawk, but didn't try to argue your case. You certainly knew better; you'd been to enough protests and stood as human support with monster meetings to know the struggles they had faced. Struggles eased by surface monsters and human mages, but there was in-fighting in those groups anyway and fighting _between_ them. Politics were _always_ messy. Three years later, and monsters _still_ suffered hate crimes.

Not like that was a new story for humans, anyway.

"No, no!" Shara was quick to reassure him. "That's my neighbor. They've been helping take care of me, too. Our rooms actually border up against each other, and if I can't sleep I just listen to them snoring or playing games..." She blushed, grabbing her full and mostly-undamaged ear and stroking it.

"Shara," you said, smiling, "That's creepy. You should have told me way sooner."

She laughed, and some of the tension of the skeleton monster seemed to leave.

"WELL, HUMAN, THANK YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF ONE OF... HEY, WAIT A MINUTE." He squinted at you. "YOU SEEM... VAGUELY FAMILIAR... I KNOW! YOU'VE ATTENDED SOME EVENTS HUMANS HAVE ORGANIZED IN SUPPORT OF MONSTERS, HAVEN'T YOU?"

"Uh, yeah," you said, more than a little impressed. Humans had variety in appearance, sure, but not the broad extent of monsters. And there were a _ton_ of humans at those events. You didn't even attend all of them, or meet anyone important - or _did_ anything important! "Wow, you have a really good memory."

He smiled, pleased. "WELL, HUMAN, I WILL LEAVE YOU TO GO ABOUT YOUR DAY AS YOU LEAVE ME TO MINE," he said, giving you a nod. You nodded back.

"Nice to meet you," you said finally, and then headed off to work.

You wanted to be a social worker like your father at first, but even the long-forgotten pain was too much for you. So you give whenever possible, both time and money, and settled with a job that suits you. You worked with the public still - you were a social butterfly at heart - but as a museum tour guide. Your work wasn't as directly helpful, but the importance of learning history so that you didn't repeat it couldn't be understated.

Plus... seeing a kid's eyes light up as they saw something Really Cool gave you _life_.

Ever since your museum started including monster history and having tours for monsters, it just got even better. You loved leading school groups of kids, particularly when it was a mix of monsters and humans. With all the questions you got asked, you found that you learned something nearly every day you worked. You rarely had a bad day, but that came from doing something you truly loved and was aided by having good coworkers.

A field trip of human and monster third graders had just concluded, and you were seeing the kids out with stickers and smiles, when suddenly a firework pattern of monster bullets practically _exploded_ from a kid. There were a few startled cries from monsters and humans alike, and you rushed over to the kid. Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone was hurt - monster bullets could hurt humans even without intent - but that was still unnatural. As far as you knew, young kids got at least basic control of their magical abilities. Hell, even a human mage wouldn't do something like... _that_.

"Are you okay?" you asked the little bear-monster. They nodded, sniffling, and wiped at their nose.

"I dunno what happened," they said, clearly upset, "I haven't shot a bullet unintentionally since I was _three_." They were more embarrassed than anything else, and the human girl next to them had her arm on their shoulder, fussing over them. The teachers soon took over.

As you walked home after that shift, you were deep in thought. First the explosion at Shara's work, and then a kid losing control of their magic like that... so far nobody had been hurt, but it was still all _very_ unusual. Something weird was going on. Related to skeletons, maybe, if you recalled that partially-overheard conversation.

The next day was a day off, and you headed back to Mount Ebott. You let Jenna and Kavik know, and then decided that rather than your typical hike you were going to investigate. You were supposed to stay away from a building, huh? Well, you could do that. But how were you supposed to find that guard from before? There was no way Sans _wasn't_ involved, and if he had some idea...

Unfortunately, you had to leave before you could find anyone. You never stayed in Mount Ebott longer than three hours, and after four Jenna and Kavik were supposed to start putting in reports. However, on your way back to the car, you saw what looked like a manor through the trees. You stopped and blinked. How did you not see that before...? You'd say it was magic, except magic didn't work on the mountain after the barrier fell.

You started to make your way to the house, when you felt a rope tighten around your leg and then you were hanging upside down from a rope trap. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> classic!sans is more in character in this rewrite.
> 
> he's a gremlin, after all.


	2. Unexpected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe you should listen to the advice of strange skeletons.
> 
> Maybe you're too stubborn to care about common sense.
> 
> In which you get thrown head-first into shenanigans in your quest for 'why'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyyy there are NOT months between this update and the last one! amazing, incredible. don't get used to it. planning to do chapter two of the obey me fanfic next, and a couple of one shots (one as a gift for a friend in obey me, one as a one shot of the fates undecided/godchild au involving the kids) in between. we'll see, i make zero promises.

Sans had told you "don't get near the building", and admittedly you had planned to, originally. But you didn't expect you weren't supposed to get near the house because it was surrounded by traps. The fact that it had appeared in a _spot you had already walked by_, when you were already seeing (and hearing about) weird things happening with monsters' magic made it irresistible.

And now here you were, hanging upside down.

You watched as your phone fell to the ground, along with your pocket knife. If you stayed here for too long, your head was just going to end up hurting. So you started swinging. If it was 'to and fro', on your 'fro' swings, you kept smacking into a tree but were unable to get a good grip to pull yourself up, leaving you sore and irritated. However, you finally managed to grab a branch, and you pulled yourself up to a sitting position. It was difficult to climb a tree with three limbs instead of four, but you managed it, and soon enough you were positioned in a way that allowed you to take off your shoe. Then, you started to work on taking off your socks.

It was easy until you got to the rope on your ankle, but when you worked the rope too, you were able to get it off. There was a bruise where the rope had gone taut, but you were otherwise fine. You put your sock and then shoe back on, then made your way down the tree. You grabbed your phone and pocket knife before you heard voices. You hesitated a minute, and then quickly made your way back up a tree - a different one, this time, a little further away. That way, if and when they looked up, they wouldn't immediately see you. You still felt exposed, but you were the one in the wrong here, so if you got caught it would just be karma.

"I KNOW, EDGE, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE BAD PR AT THIS POINT IF THE TRAPS HAPPENED TO CATCH A HUMAN. UNFORTUNATELY, WE HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE OTHERS. WE'RE OUTVOTED," a loud and almost _shrill_ voice lamented.

"UGH, I KNOW, AND KING WOULD PROBABLY HAVE OUR HEADS," another equally-loud, but not quite as shrill, voice agreed, "ALTHOUGH THE HORROR LINES HAVE _NO_ CONCEPT OF 'SECRECY' SO I DON'T THINK _HE'S_ ONE TO TALK."

"OH, IT'S INFURIATING!" came the exuberant agreement, "THERE'S -"

As the two skeletons (of course, they were skeletons) came into view, the shorter one broke off.

"THE ALARM WENT OFF," said the taller one with a scowl. He resembled the skeleton at Shara's door, and he tapped a tablet. A tablet? Technology didn't work on the mountain. You brought your phone more out of habit than anything; you left it off the entire time because it just refused to function. 

"THE _TRAP_ WENT OFF," the shorter one added, waving a hand and causing a faint purple-blue glow to surround the loop where your foot once was. It dropped into his hand. The two of them looked at each other, concerned.

"WE HAVE TO FIND WHOEVER SET OFF THE TRAP, BLACKBERRY," the taller one - who had been called 'Edge', you were calling him 'Edge' now - said.

'Black' made a face. "DON'T CALL ME THAT! IT'S JUST _BLACK_. QUIT COMPARING ME TO THE CREAMPUFF."

"WHICH ONE?" Edge sassed with a smirk.

Black snorted. "_FOCUS_, EDGE. WE HAVE AN UNKNOWN VARIABLE. THIS COULD RISK NOT ONLY WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON BUT ALL OF MONSTERKIND, FROM _ALL_ OF THE TIMELINES." You barely managed to bite back a gasp, but apparently that was enough noise because Black started looking around. "YOU HEARD THAT? I THINK WHOEVER ESCAPED THE TRAP IS STILL HERE. MAYBE EVEN LISTENING IN..."

Abruptly, you find yourself thrown to the ground, your SOUL out and blue.

"Ow," you said very eloquently, watching your SOUL return to your chest after it flickered between blue and your natural color. Edge groaned.

"DAMNIT! CURSE THIS STUPID MOUNTAIN," the tall skeleton complained. You sat up, rubbing your back and making a face. That _really_ hurt, gravity magic was the literal worst.

"How are you able to do magic at _all_?" you asked, "How is your tablet working?"

"POORLY," Black said, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? THE MOUNTAIN IS CLOSED TO CIVILIANS."

"It's been three years since it was closed," you said, "At the risk of getting in more trouble, I've never stopped coming here."

Edge placed his hand on his face and let out a heavy sigh. "THIS PLACE IS DANGEROUS!" he said, grabbing you by your arm and rather harshly yanking you up. You grimaced; there was no way you weren't going to bruise. "WELL, COME ON, MIGHT AS WELL LET THE OTHERS KNOW."

You debated about telling them about your meeting with Sans, but decided against it. That felt far too much like throwing Sans under the bus, and he _had_ agreed to let you just continue to wander around. So you let Edge drag you along, Black leading the way. Now that you thought about it...

Edge looked like an awful lot like that skeleton who had talked to Shara yesterday. He was slightly shorter, actually, and he had both legs, but there was that sort of ruggedness. Which meant he _had_ to be a counterpart of the tall skeleton - a fell timeline, it looked like, and the skeleton who had been with Shara had been from a _horror_ timeline since Shara was, so that meant Edge was from the original fell line. Proud of yourself, you attempted to wiggle your arm free of his hand. His grip tightened, and you let out a hiss of pain - which thankfully got him to loosen his grip, although he rolled his eyes at you.

Soon, Edge and Blackberry burst in through the doors of the house. "WE FOUND A HUMAN," Blackberry declared, "IN ONE OF THE TRAPS."

"wait, seriously?" A lanky skeleton in an orange hoodie poked his head up from where he was in the couch in a heap. "what kind of idiot comes to mt. ebott when they're not on official business?"

"This idiot," you said, finally managing to untangle your arm from Edge. You rubbed it, making a face at the bruise there. "To be _fair_, I've been coming here since I was, like, six, and just didn't stop when it was closed. It's not _my_ fault that the forest like - I don't know. I was walking back to my car when all of a sudden I saw the house just, like, appear, and the forest near me change."

Capital-L Looks were exchanged between the skeletons, and a couple more came out - including three you recognized.

"Wait." The tall and scarred skeleton who had been talking to Shara frowned, looking at you. "You Mean To Tell Me You Haven't Got Lost Once?"

"I know this area like the back of my hand," you boasted, "Of course I haven't gotten lost!"

"Shara Mentioned She Had A Friend Who She Knew Visited Here Still," he mused, almost to himself, "I Didn't Realize It Was _You_. Or That The Forest Doesn't Change For Her Friend... To Be Fair, She Probably Didn't Know That Either."

You blinked. "Does... does it change for other people?" you asked with some concern, "Cuz if it's doing that, it's indicative usually of the elements being out of whack, or so I've been told. I mean - as far as my, uh, friend knows, there's never been an elemental on Mount Ebott, and now almost everyone avoids it, but that shouldn't actually impact the elemental balance, there are only so many elementals anyway..."

"are you, uh, a mage?" Sans asked, looking at you in a way you weren't comfortable with.

"Nah." You shook your head. "My dad tested me for magic but I'm hopeless with it. He said I have a knack for knowing how to escape it, though."

That did not help Sans's expression.

"ANYWAY, can I go now? I have a couple of friends who will kick up a fuss if I don't give them a call soon, so..." You'd normally be more productive towards figuring out what was going on, but Sans's expression was seriously giving you heebie-jeebies and your arm was sort of aching.

"One Moment." The tall skeleton who had been speaking with Shara turned towards you. His expression was harsh, but not nearly as unnerving as Sans's was right now. "Human... I Think We Need To Have A Discussion. Is It Alright If My Brother And I Pay You A Visit Later This Week?"

"Yeah, of course," you said with a smile, "Tell Shara I said you can have my number and then the two of us can hash something out. Do you prefer to text or call?"

"CALL," the skeleton said. His volume was a little higher than it had been, closer to the volume when the two of you had first met and he turned from Shara to address you.

"Then ask her when I'm usually free, too; she knows my schedule. Give me a call whenever is good." You continued to try and back out of the building.

The skeletons didn't stop you, and you quickly jogged away. You weren't in a familiar area of the woods, but you could figure it out.

"HUMAN, WAIT!" You paused. The loud voice did not belong to Sans, Edge, or Blackberry, so you turned around. He was actually slightly shorter than Sans as far as you could tell, about the same height as Blackberry - their counterpart, probably. "THERE'S TRAPS AROUND HERE, LET ME GUIDE YOU."

You nodded and offered your name.

"OH! I AM BLUEBERRY, IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU." He smiled at you, shaking your hand before starting to lead you.

"So..." You frowned. "Something was mentioned about the environment changing?"

"YES. WE KEEP THE HOUSE AND THE SURROUNDING AREA TOGETHER THANKS TO MAGIC, BUT EVERYTHING ELSE SHIFTS AND CHANGES," he confirmed.

"That's weird. I wonder why, and why it's been consistent for me," you mused, "But - how are you able to get any magic to work done at all?"

"THE BRILLIANT DOCTORS ALPHYS AND UNDYNE. OR DOCTOR ALLIMEW, DOCTOR FIMEW, DOCTOR DYNE, AND DOCTOR UNADI. AND THEIR NON-DOCTOR PARTNERS, OF COURSE. I'D LIKE TO SAY DOCTOR UNADI AND HER PARTNER PHILA HAVE CONTRIBUTED THE MOST, BUT I'M JUST BIASED BECAUSE THEY'RE FROM MY TIMELINE," Blueberry said proudly. "HONESTLY, UNADI HAS A COMPETITIVE STREAK A MILE WIDE - ALL HER COUNTERPARTS DO. BUT EVERYONE'S BEEN WORKING HARD ON OUR... PROJECT."

"Classified project?" you asked, "That's fine, I don't expect you to tell me just cuz I'm here." You watched as he took a zig-zag pattern, and you followed him carefully, not wanting to accidentally trigger a trap.

"IT... IS CLASSIFIED," Blueberry admitted, "BUT I HAVE A FEELING YOU MAY END UP INVOLVED IN IT ANYWAY. HAVE YOU BEEN NOTICING THAT... THE WEIRDNESS WITH MAGIC HAS STARTED TO SPREAD? FROM JUST BEING CONCENTRATED AROUND MOUNT EBOTT, TO ALL KINDS OF MAGIC GOING ON THE FRITZ. TECHNOLOGY HASN'T BEEN IMPACTED YET, BUT UNDYNE - I MEAN, UNADI THEORIZES THAT IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME."

"I... have noticed something like that," you agreed, "Even, um, my friend has mentioned some issues with it and that the various elementals in the world are looking into it. I guess it makes sense that the Undergrounders would be, too. I wonder if any mages are, nobody's mentioned anything like that to me, but then I'm not exactly a mage..."

Blueberry stopped abruptly. "THE TRAPS END HERE, AND THE AREA WE CAN KEEP STABLE. DO YOU KNOW YOUR WAY BACK?"

You took a moment to look around. It wasn't where you had been _before_ entering the house, but you knew the area well enough. "Yeah, I can find my way from here. Thanks, Blueberry. It was nice meeting you." You waved as you started to make your way down the mountain, back to your car. It was absolutely uninteresting the rest of the way. You were very much hitting your time limit to content Jenna and Kavik when you went out of Mount Ebott's interference range, so you started a group call with them.

"_Got caught up by the view again, huh?_" Jenna laughed when the call was started, "_I was starting to get worried._"

"Not exactly," you said, "Something weird is going on. Kavik - are you aware that Mount Ebott's terrain _changes_ for people?"

There was a pause. "_Um, I thought it changed for you, too,_" Kavik said, "_That's actually why it's so dangerous. There are other places where either magic or technology doesn't work, but none of them have a blanket ban on them. The fact that there's no magic, no technology, _and_ a changing environment? Just... you've been safe, so I figure you're good at navigating it or something._"

You sighed heavily. "Okay, cool. Yeah, the terrain does _not_ change for me. And there's skeletons - Undergrounders - who've managed to create a semi-stable area where they can use magic and technology, if at a limited rate. Because apparently, um... Kavik. Jenna. Have your people been having trouble with magic going out of control?"

"_Yeah,_" Jenna said before Kavik could, "_Sometimes my spells do _way_ more than they're supposed to. I thought it was just a mage thing, there's like... a whole council with it and they've not mentioned a word of anyone else having trouble._"

"It's what the skeletons are investigating apparently. It has something to do with Mount Ebott," you offered.

"_And I would bet you twenty bucks that the Surfacers are trying to pin it on the Undergrounders,_" Kavik said, irritation in his voice, "_Because why work together, right? Goddamnit._"

"_So why aren't any mages helping, then?_" Jenna complained, "_If magic is going out of control like this, we're **all** in trouble._"

"Congratulations," you drawled, "I'm officially conscripting you two into _my_ personal investigation into the shenanigans. Also possibly helping the skeletal investigators, not sure yet."

Jenna snorted. "_Okay,_" she said, "_I'm hanging up now. Text me later, okay?_"

You said your goodbyes to Kavik too, and then listened to your 'Dad's Playlist' all the way back down, wondering what he'd think of the whole thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the official list of AUs are:  
-classic UT  
-Underfell  
-Underswap  
-Swapfell  
-Horrortale  
-Horrorfell
> 
> I may add others at some point, I have a method for more skelemans (and friends) to show up. idk man - just sans + papyrus always feels incomplete with me. what about the grillbys, the undynes, the mettatons? all the AUs have cool designs and absolutely incredible stories.
> 
> so obv the fallen humans all merge together somehow and become gods but only when together so we get multiple timelines in one place or somethin' idk. anyway ---


End file.
